Budget PBX – Yes, It’s Possible!

What do you mean “you’ve only had your current phone system for five years”? Did you keep your cell phone for five years?

Maybe you think that VoIP technology doesn’t move as fast? It does. Well, with the hosted PBX the cool thing is that in most cases, all you need to do to stay current is buy some new handsets! The rest of it practically upgrades itself assuming your service provider wants to keep your business over time.

Easy or not, it’s not uncommon for many companies to not touch their office phone systems for nearly a decade. The problem with this approach is that business technologies evolve and you have to evolve with them or you run a real risk of relying on some antiquated business practices which your clients will sooner or later notice.

Today, if your PBX handset is more than three years old, it may be time to upgrade it to something a bit more recent.

Why Does Upgrading Matter?

If your business has been around for a couple decades, you’ve lived through time in which PBX technology didn’t advance all that much. Back in the day it made sense to only upgrade your phone system every ten years or so because, quite honestly, not a whole lot was happening in the field and the “latest and greatest” handsets bore more than a passing resemblance to their much older predecessors.

The advent of IP telephony technologies had created an ever-shifting, ever-advancing world of unified communications where applications evolve faster than users can get used to their interfaces. The SIP handsets of today bear little resemblance to their predecessors of five years ago – they are computers that run software, integrating with your business applications. Just like computer software it needs to be upgraded. If you aren’t upgrading your PBX technology on a regular basis then your clients, your employees, and your business as a whole, will be at a disadvantage.

Perception: Phone System Upgrades aren’t Cheap

You probably still remember your last costly phone system installation. It does not help that the economy still wallows in the dumps and you’ve probably stretched your budget thinner than you thought was possible. You’ve probably run the numbers and, given other business priorities, upgrading your phone system seems to be the least of your concerns. It falls into “discretionary business spending” category. After all – you are using it today.

The advent of IP telephony technologies had created an ever-shifting, ever-advancing world of unified communications. The SIP handsets of today bear little resemblance to their predecessors of five years ago. If you aren’t upgrading your PBX technology on a regular basis then your clients, your employees, and your business as a whole, will be at a disadvantage.

Perception: Phone System Upgrades aren’t Cheap

Let’s face it, neither is lost productivity. Could you be underestimating the impact a latest VoIP features may have on your business?

It doesn’t help that the economy still wallows in the dumps and you’ve probably stretched your budget thinner than you thought was possible to compensate. You’ve probably run the numbers and, given other business priorities, upgrading your phone system seems to be the least of your concerns. It falls into “discretionary business spending” category.

What if I told you that budget PBX is a real possibility especially when it is hosted by a VoIP service provider?

Reality: SIP Handsets are Affordable

As far as cost is concerned, we have two pieces of good news:1. When it comes to hosted PBX, you don’t need to completely overhaul your entire phone system to appreciably improve your company’s unified communications. It’s not really a “system” any more – it’s a service and your service provider upgrades that for you. No charge. But purchasing newer SIP handsets may be necessary to take advantage of some of the newer features.

If you are still using an old analog or digital PBX or a key system and looking to go hosted, you don’t have to purchase this year’s latest SIP handsets to benefit from an improved PBX system. The technology has been around – you have options.

Consider Used or Refurbished SIP handsets

Buying recently discontinued, and/or refurbished SIP handsets will still provide you with many of the benefits offered by ultra-modern handsets at a steep discount. Official telephony technology lifecycles have shortened so drastically that it isn’t hard to find plenty of perfectly functional handsets that sell at significant discounts solely because a slightly better, slightly slicker model has hit the market. Most refurbished handsets carry remainder of the manufacturer’s warranty and support HD voice, multiple line appearances, basic call control features (conference, transfer, forward, hold, do not disturb, etc.). Believe it or not, you can even get a used video phone for around $80. There are also some HD phones priced in the same range.

Keeping your office phone system current can be exceptionally important in rapidly changing business environment, and with a few small compromises doing so is incredible affordable.